Assessing the Distribution of Fiscal and Personnel Resources across Schools. A Report Prepared for Los Angeles Unified School District. SSFR Research Report #01 (LAUSD). Strategic School Funding for Results (SSFR)

Chambers, Jay G.; Levin, Jesse; Brodziak, Iliana; Chan, Derek

Strategic School Funding for Results

Using fiscal data provided by the finance office of the school district, and personnel data obtained from the California Basic Education Data System maintained by the California Department of Education (CDE), the authors present analyses to provide a foundation for local policymakers that may be used to assess whether there are inequities in the way fiscal and personnel resources are distributed across schools. They begin their analysis with an examination of school level performance data obtained from the CDE. This is followed by an analysis of the relationship between school resource allocation (spending and staffing) and student needs. They find that: (1) Schools with the highest percentage of students from low-income families exhibit the lowest performance on the California Academic Performance Index (API); (2) The highest need schools (those serving the higher percentages of students eligible for free or reduced price lunch) generally spend somewhat more overall than the lowest need schools and most of this difference is driven by categorical or restricted funding; (3) In some cases, spending from unrestricted funding tends to be lower in the highest need schools, and these differences work against the additional spending that occurs out of restricted funding; (4) Elementary schools tend to outspend their middle and high school counterparts; (5) Schools with the highest percentages of low-income students have more FTE teachers per 100 students; and (6) Schools with the highest percentages of low-income students have on average less experienced, and hence lower paid, teachers and more teaching out-of-field. (Contains 24 exhibits and 11 footnotes.)